


Cracks In The Stone

by Fruity446



Series: Make Me Yours Again [1]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst, Comfort Food, Divorce, F/F, Heartbreak, Married Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Mental Health Issues, Nicole has a motorcycle, Only read if you can stand the pain, This is likely to break everyone's hearts, Ward Earp is a dickhead, Xavier is great with kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 04:14:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30049758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fruity446/pseuds/Fruity446
Summary: After many years of marriage, Nicole Haught and Waverly Earp near the final step in their divorce. Both of their hearts keep breaking, and being together only makes the cracks widen until it burns.
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Series: Make Me Yours Again [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2210607
Comments: 20
Kudos: 49





	Cracks In The Stone

Smoke curled out of the abyss that was Nicole’s parted lips, her leather jacket cool against her skin as she leant against a lamppost, her beloved motorcycle a few blocks down the street. Behind her, up a series of worn stone steps was the divorce office. She’d been here before, when she was divorcing Shae Pressman ―her first wife―and it had been her idea to get a divorce back then, their Vegas marriage quickly going downhill. But now she was here to sign the final papers to be rid of her newest wife, Waverly Earp. 

Really, she should’ve recognised the signs. Fighting late at night while their eight year old son William snored upstairs and their baby twins wailed in their nursery at the shouting. The constant vibe that Waverly was ignoring her and drinking at a rate that would’ve impressed the Earp girls’ father and even Wynonna herself. The bloody cotton swabs and bruised knuckles of her wife, the late nights out simply to avoid her. 

Now here they were. Signing their divorce papers. She couldn’t believe it. When she had married the petite brunette she had suspected that she had finally found her happy ending, but it seemed that fate had other plans. How gut wrenchingly cruel of the universe. She wasn’t even sure why they were divorcing or why Waverly had picked up this drinking problem. Either way, her heart was already broken. An explanation wouldn’t fix anything. It would probably only make things worse. 

Waverly was still finishing her side of the papers. Nicole couldn’t bear to watch the scene unfold, to watch her wife sign away their love so that she could finally be free. It was giving her a tremendous headache, one only smoking could relieve. But the nicotine was temporary. The heartbreak, for all she knew, was here to stay. 

Their kids didn’t even know that their mothers were separating. Their children didn’t realise that there would no longer be any family dinners or fights over the ketchup between their mummy and mama, they didn’t yet know that their parents would no longer share a house or a bed. They were going to be so devastated, so angry, so confused. They would have every right to be. 

The doors opened behind her, and she didn’t have to turn her head to know that it was her wife. Ex-wife. Waverly’s footsteps were ingrained in her mind permanently, as was everything else about her. Every touch. Every curve. Every scar. Every kiss. She still loved her, even if they were now legally divorced. She had loved Waverly for many years now, and just because they were now legally unwed, didn’t mean that the flame Waverly had awoken in her heart had died, too. It just burned. It burned more painfully as the woman herself drew closer, making Nicole wince and clutch her chest in agony. 

Waverly looked tired, dark half circles underneath her eyes and her lips couldn’t even be bothered to pull back in a smile. But she still looked beautiful, even if her skin looked more grey and her eyes had lost their glow. It almost looked like she regretted her decisions, but that was impossible. It was Waverly who had wanted the divorce in the first place, there was no way she could regret it, could she? 

“They want you inside to sign the papers,” she said by way of greeting, her hands collapsed at her sides. She looked so pale, so fickle, so unlike the woman Nicole had first met when she walked into Shorty’s saloon. It made the ache worsen. 

Nicole grunted. “They can kiss my ass. I’m not signing anything. I know that you may want this divorce, I get that you don’t love me anymore, but I can’t do this. I can’t. I refuse.” 

Waverly sighed, hanging her head in shame. “I do love you, Nicole. I just can’t do this anymore. It feels like there are massive iron cogs wrapped around my ankles and I’m being dragged deeper and deeper into this slimy, black lake and I can’t escape. Meanwhile, you’re on the edge of the lake and I just can’t reach you anymore. You can’t save me anymore. It’s too much. I’m too much. I’m stuck in a constant loop and I can no longer breathe unless I numb the pain with alcohol.” 

“I could’ve helped you,” Nicole choked out through a barely concealed sob. “I love you so much, and I feel like I’m burning on the inside. I just don’t understand why you have to leave me, to leave the kids. Why can’t we break out of this loop together? Please, Waverly, don’t leave me.” 

Waverly shook her head, tears running down her face. “I can’t. I can’t hurt you with my problems anymore. I refuse to turn into Daddy and wreck my kids lives. I refuse to treat you the way he treated Mama. I won’t be that person, so I’m running while I still can. I won’t hurt you, my love.” 

“But you already are!” Nicole shouted, tugging on her hair in frustration as rivulets of tears streamed down her cheeks. “You aren’t Ward, Waverly. Come home to me, baby. Stay. Please. Stay with me. You don’t have to do this. Whatever is haunting you, we can work through it, together,” she whispered, cupping her love’s cheeks and bringing their foreheads to rest against one another’s. 

“Oh my god. Oh my god,” Waverly gasped, her eyes wild and frantic. “My love, I’m so, so, so sorry. I can’t believe I’ve done this. Oh god Nicole, what have I done? I’ve just ruined the only good thing I’ve ever had.” 

“It’s okay,” Nicole soothed, rubbing her hands up and down her wife’s spine in what she hoped was a reassuring touch to ground them both. “Nothing is signed yet by me so we’re still together. We can do inside now and reverse the whole thing. Unless….unless you’re looking for a break?” She trailed off, hoping the answer would be no. 

“I still want you,” Waverly said firmly. “But I know that things have gone downhill and I know that it’s my fault. It’s on me. Do you think maybe we could have a break, just for a bit? I’ll move back into the homestead temporarily with Wynonna, and then when we’re both ready we can see how we’re feeling. If you decide to sign the papers, I don’t blame you. I’ve been a bitch.” 

“You’re not a bitch,” the redhead whispered, tucking her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. “But you are right. Our marriage is rocky right now, and we should take a break. Even if it kills me, I will sign the papers if it’s what your heart truly desires. Just...just call me when you’re ready. No pressure. I’ll still be there. At the house. But I can’t call it home when you’re not there. It would just feel wrong.” 

Waverly nodded in understanding, before she spun on her heel and walked away. Nicole lit another cigarette, letting the smoke swirl around her in an effort to block the view of the love of her life walking away from her out of her sight, hoping the pain would subside. Hoping uselessly that the woman would return her heart to her, just so that she could have her hope back. But she knew that as long as she lived, Waverly Earp would be the keeper of her heart. 

The smoke never eased the pain. What bullshit. 

  
  
  


Three months later, Waverly was still living with her sister. Nicole couldn’t even stomach the thought of sleeping in what had once been their bedroom, for the bed was too big and it lacked the warmth of her lover and her soft snores would be absent for the foreseeable future. So she had taken up residence in their guest room, even though most nights she still couldn’t sleep and had to spoon a pillow and wrap herself up in one of her wife’s sweaters simply so she didn’t feel as alone. 

Their eldest son, Richard, who was twenty three and lived halfway across the country was the only one who knew the truth about the separation. He wasn’t happy about it to say the least, feeling a large sum of anger towards Waverly and saying that it was unfair for Nicole to have to be alone, despite the fact that they both loved one another, despite everything. But Nicole made sure that her son knew that his mama was going through a lot mental health wise, which only served to make Richard guilty. 

William was confused at first, but Nicole promised him that his mama was just having a long sleepover at the homestead, which stopped his questions. For now. The twins were none the wiser, being only a few months old. But it was difficult having to raise them alone, getting limited help from both Doc and Dolls, who were both surprisingly good with new-born children. 

Occasionally, Wynonna would come to pick up William so he could spend a few hours with his mama, but Nicole never went with them. There was no point putting herself through more pain than she was already in, and besides, she didn’t want to jeopardize her wife’s recovery, even though she longed to be by her side every second of every day. 

The divorce papers had been sent in the mail to their address, and she would sometimes secretly read over the forms, keeping an eye on the door and her ears alert in case she was caught by her wife, who had seemed so ready to let her go not too long ago. But she knew that was Waverly’s slightly selfish side, trying to protect others when really, it only increased their pain when she continued to push them away. 

Nicole wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore. All she knew was that she longed for the never ending pain to vanish, even if it was just for one night. Just so she could forget all about Waverly, for one day. A day where she wouldn’t have to remember a woman who rambled over her own words when they first met, the woman who had her heart on her sleeve and who was slowly crushing it, suffocating her. A woman named Waverly Earp, her wife, her home and more recently, her curse. 

Nicole sighed, pen hovering over the dotted line, ready to scrawl her signature next to the elegant cursive of her wife’s. If she signed this paper, she would lose everything. All over again, except this divorce would be so much worse than her divorce with Shae. Shae had been a stupid fling, Waverly was so much more. 

Frustrated, Nicole flung the pen away, the dull clunk as it bounced against the floorboards ringing in her ears as she collapsed on the kitchen floor, exhausted. 

  
  


Wynonna sighed as she bounced her niece, Taylor, against her hip, watching as Dolls did the same to her other niece, Aubree. Nicole had been collapsed on the kitchen floor when she found her, anxious about her sister in law when the redhead hadn’t answered her phone after Wynonna had called her five times. 

There had been divorce papers on the kitchen table, a sight that truly broke the Earp woman’s heart, remembering how happy her sister and the redhead had once been. She couldn’t understand what had gone wrong for those two. If Nicole and Waverly couldn’t work things out, then love really was fake. 

“They’ll be fine,” Dolls said as if he could read her thoughts, lowering a sleeping Aubree back into her cot. He gave her his best attempt at a smile. “Trust me. If anyone can work things out, it’s Nicole and Waverly. Even if they do go through with this divorce, they’ll get back together one day. Life always has second chances, Earp. They’ll get one.” 

“I hope so,” Wynonna whispered, too upset to even remark that Dolls sounded like a walking bumper sticker. “I really, really hope so. Now, help me get my niece to sleep. I can’t deal with babies, that’s your job now.” 

Dolls actually laughed. What a bone chilling sound. 

  
  


Nicole sighed, leaning back in her desk chair. She had just reprimanded Lonnie once more for mixing up the missing persons and missing animals reports for the two hundredth time in a row. More like a billion. But it felt nice to have some semblance of normalcy, even if it was draining to have to explain how to do one simple task over and over again. 

Waverly still hadn’t called. It had been four months. If the brunette’s mental health had improved, Nicole’s certainly hadn’t. She looked like some wannabe Frankenstein, her skin so pale and the bags underneath her eyes so prominent that several people had given her weird looks, some asking if she required medical attention. 

But one day, everything changed. The phone rang, Waverly’s name jumping across the top of the screen, causing Nicole’s heart to thump wildly in her chest. Was her wife finally ready to come home? Eagerly, she accepted the call, a smile spreading across her face at the prospect of talking to her love. But just as quickly as the smile was there, it vanished. 

Waverly only said seven words. Thirty one letters. 

“I can’t do this anymore. Goodbye, Nicole.” 

It was with a heavy heart that Nicole signed the divorce papers that very night, her heart numb, broken like the cracks in the stone of their house. 

Her wedding ring burned on her finger. She welcomed the hellfire. 


End file.
